विवेचन सारांश

Know and Eradicate Your Asurik (Demoniacal) Traits to reach the Paramātmā

In this sloka , Bhagavān explains the demonic qualities, in brief.
The major demonic traits are :

• dambah (Hypocrisy): we show off something that we dont possess, as if we own it. For example, wearing a yellow jewelry and saying its gold.
• darpah (Arrogance): we own something and we show it off.
• abhimāna (Pride): the feeling of superiority to others, irrespective of what we own.
• krodhaḥ (Anger):showing off irritation and frustration; and shouting over every action and belittling others.
• pāruṣya (Harshness): being rude to others over petty little things, unnecessarily.
• ajñānaṃ (Ignorance): the inability to identify what is right and what is wrong, and to strongly believe that whatever we do is right.

All the above traits come under Demoniacal qualities.

In this sloka , Bhagavān explains about the “phala bheda” between the divine and demoniacal qualities.

Why should we posses the divine qualities and why should we avoid the demonic qualities? What are the consequences of such actions?

Bhagavān Śrī Krishna says, possessing the divine qualities will lead us to Moksha, that is liberation from the cycle of life and death thus leading us to bliss. On the other hand, possession of demoniacal qualities will lead us to bondage. For instance, if we study well, we obtain a degree which helps us get a good job. We earn money and are able to buy things that bring us happiness.

The ultimate aim of this human birth is to attain happiness; it can be obtained only through possession of  divine qualities.

Bhagavān also assures Arjuna, that he already possesses all the divine qualities.

All living beings in this world are created equally with the Pancha Bhutas,  the five elements of cosmic creation (air, water, ether, earth and fire).  Yet, there are two types, based on their disposition - the Divine and the Demonic people.

Addressing Arjuna as Pārtha, the son of Pṛthā which is another name for Kunti, Bhagavān explains about the demoniacal traits. The qualities of the Divine is already explained in earlier shlokas. Bhagavān who is the only authority in this world explains to us the consequences of possessing the divine and demoniacal characteristics. Hence we should strive to improve the Divine qualities for attaining liberation.

In this shloka Bhagavān explains the characteristics of the people with demoniacal characteristics. Demonic people do not know what is right and what is wrong. They do not know what should be followed and what should be discarded. They do not have the purity of the heart and mind or physical purity. They also do not possess a proper conduct and do not speak the truth. They do not believe in the Paramātmā, but consider themselves as Ishwar. These people also believe that whatever they think is right and that they know the perfect way of getting things or acts done.

All human beings have a combination of divine and demoniacal qualities. We may possess any one of these demonic qualities at any point of time in our lives, then we are said to possess demonic nature. We have to constantly monitor ourselves to see if we are exhibiting any of the above demonic qualities, and try to reduce or remove these qualities, for our own betterment.

Bhagavān further talks about the thought process of the  demonical people.

The thought process of such people is taking recourse to lies, without any proper base or foundation, with little regard for Ishwar. They think that this world is created  due to the 
physical union through lust between male & female. Such people do not believe that Bhagavān is the Cause, Creator and Consort of this world. 

These characteristics of the demoniacal qualities are listed by Bhagavān so that we can constantly evaluate ourselves, and not others. Each of us should be conscious about our own faults but not check them in others. We should not use it as a checklist to calibrate the quality or nature of other people. 

Bhagavān sympathizes such demonic people as they are destroying themselves by adopting such a mean thought process. He says these people have low intelligence level and are always angry and frustrated over petty matters. These kind of people cannot uplift themselves and are the cause of destruction of this universe.

Bhagavān  says in this sloka, that the demonic people have insatiable desires and are constantly trying to satiate their desires. Desires are never ending; a new one appears soon after one desire is fulfilled. Demonic people constantly focus on satisfying them without understanding the consequence of such actions.

For instance, a child cries for a cycle. When he gets the cycle, he desires a scooter. After that he wants a car, an iPhone, a MacBook etc. The list of such desires is never ending and demonic people are always focused on satisfying such desires. 

Bhagavān  says people with hypocrisy, pride, and arrogance embrace those activities that should not be done, and are highly ignorant in their actions. 

Bhagavān further says that, people with demoniacal qualities don’t give any second thought about the outcome of fulfilling their desires and pleasures. They are always thinking of these sensuous enjoyments and adopt all methods to fulfil them. To them, enjoying those desires are the priority.

Bhagavān says the demoniacal people who are bonded to their hundreds of desires or expectations end up in anger, frustration when they are not able to meet them.  In order to fulfil those desires they strive hard to earn money, or sometimes fulfil their desires through unlawful or immoral means.

In this shloka Bhagavān talks about the ignorance of such people with low intellect.

The demoniacal people say that they have amassed so much of wealth and have fulfilled many of their desires. They are confident they would be able to fulfil all the ambitions and desires in their lives. Due to the ignorance of their minds, such people are unable to recognize that these desires have no end and may never get fulfilled. New desires get created in their minds even before the earlier ones are satiated.

People with demoniacal traits will also boast that they have killed so many enemies and are getting ready to kill more enemies.

Hiranyakashyapu, Hiranyaksha, Kamsa and Ravana are examples of kings with demoniacal qualities. These kings have declared themselves as Bhagavān.

Story of Hiranyakashyapu and Prahalad:

Hiranyakashyapu was a demon king, who declared himself as God; everyone in his kingdom had to worship only him. Due to good karmas of previous birth, his own son, Prahalad was blessed by Sri Narayana while he was still in his mother’s womb. The young lad grew up at his Acharya’s ashram listening to Narayana Sankeertana. 

Prahalad and his friends reared kittens in a mud pot. One night the potter took away the pot for burning in the fire, not noticing the kitten. In the morning Prahalad and his friends started weeping when they couldn’t find the pot with the kitten. Prahalad asked his father, Hiranyakashyapu for help, but in vain. He could not get back the kittens. Prahalad, then approached his Guru who asked him to do Hari Sankeertana which would help him to get back the kittens. That is when Prahalad realized that Sri Narayana was the supreme Paramātmā,  and not his father. So he started singing the Narayana Sankeertana and became HIS disciple.

Hiranyakashyapu found out that his son was praying to Sri Narayana, and not him, the self proclaimed Bhagavān. In anger, he tried to kill his own son, but due to the grace of Ishwar, Prahalad was unimpacted and was alive without any harm. On the other hand, Sri Narayana in the form of Narasimha swamy roopa  (avatar), killed Hiranyakashyapu, thus ending his terrible acts on the people of his kingdom.

Bhagavān says that these people with demoniacal qualities are deluded by their assumptions of self grandeur like, possession of wealth, birth into rich and prestigious family, performance of many sacrifices etc. They feel that no one can ever reach them in their achievements and no one can match them in possession all the above qualities.

These people are so ignorant & foolish that they proudly declare these qualities thinking that no other person can beat them ever.

Bhagavān declares that such people with demoniacal attributes are deluded by different illusions, and enveloped by many thoughts. Being addicted to sensual pleasures and repeatedly thinking about enjoyments, they will fall down or get destroyed and finally end up in impure hell.

Demonic people are self-conceited, self-centered, addicted and intoxicated to wealth, arrogant and proud. They perform all the sacrifices, yagnas and other rituals just for the namesake as show off to the people. In fact, they do not perform the rituals as mandated in the scriptures, but according to their own interpretation and understanding. 

For instance, though there are so many NGOs working in the country, only few of them do true service to the people. All others only maintain files and take grants from the government for their own profit. They do not provide necessary service to needy people. Such NGOs, instead of serving people have become business ventures generating profits. 

Geeta Pariwar is a genuine organisation providing services to the people in different ways.  It is run by volunteers from top to bottom. During Covid pandemic, 4 lakh food packets were distributed by the Pariwar. It is well known that Geeta Pariwar does not collect donations or grants from any one because whatever it does is Bhagavān’s work. Such organizations are pure organizations without any conceit and are transparent.

Bhagavān  now talks about other demoniacal traits such as egotism, force, arrogance, lust ,anger which are always enveloping them. Bhagavān further says that with all these bad qualities, such people hate the Bhagavān who is dwelling not only in themselves but also in others too. Such people commit sin by hating the Paramātmā, Supreme Being sitting within all of us.

Bhagavān discloses to Arjuna, that such ignorant souls with demoniacal traits will never reach HIM. They would continue in the cycle of birth and their rebirths would likely be in lower strata of life and it worsens over the rebirths depending on their Karma. 

Bhagavān clearly states that Desire, Anger and Greed are the three gateways to hell which will destroy the human beings. Hence one should discard these dangerous traits if he does not want to enter hell, and continue the mortal cycle of birth and death.

One should be able to handle all the situations calmly. Being angry sometimes is fine but we should never lose control. Shivering with anger, eyes becoming red, not able to speak a word, etc., should not happen. We should be able to reprimand our children with sternness, but not in a way that the children are terrified and cannot communicate with us in future.

Bhagavān Krishna assures that those who get themselves freed from these bad traits through nurturing the good qualities by following the injunction of the Śāstras or scriptures,  are sure to attain the Supreme Goal of reaching the Paramātmā.

On the other hand, those who act at will, by discarding the injunctions of the Scriptures, will not get happiness or liberation nor reach the Supreme  Paramātmā.

For instance, if it is written in the Sastras to do yajnas using mango leaves. But, we use other leaves, instead of mango leaf, because the mango leaves were not available. It will be a deviation of the Śāstras, and the fruit of the yajna will not be realised. 

It is given in Śāstras to feed a Brahmāna after Shraddha karma. if we contradict and say that we will feed poor people instead, then it is a deviation of the Śāstra. If we have the capacity, we can feed both of them.

Hence we should follow the scriptures to determine what should be done ,how it should be done, and what should not be done. We cannot decide this without verifying the Sastras or scriptures.

The vivechan session ended with prayer to Ishwar and the rendition of Hanuman Chalisa.

Question and Answer Session:

Achyutananda  Ji

Q:How can I inculcate the divine qualities?

A: We have both divine and demoic qualities. We need to check ourselves if we have any demonic qualities, and try to eliminate them. Try to improve the divine qualities so that the divine qualities percentage is more than demoniacal ones.

Premnath Ji

Q: Will we be relieved of our desires and worries after death?

A: No, they will get carried along with the Atma, the soul into the next birth. We should pray to Bhagavān that our desires, Vāsanās  and worries get minimized gradually through various births.

Jayanti Ji

Q: If god is present in all, how then are these Asuri attributes present in us?

A: It all depends on the Punya Karmas of our previous births. So, in each birth it is our duty to reduce the demonic attributes and strive to attain Moksha with complete surrender to Ishwar.

Pushparani Ji

Q: Why do we get anger?

A: It is Tamasik trait. We need to take food which is Sattvik, think good, pray and surrender to Ishwar to reduce our Tamasik characteristics.